Triumphant Return
by AnimateObsessive
Summary: Sasuke returns to the village expecting nothing but goodwill from his former teammates and sensei. As a matter of fact, Kakashi has a little present for him...


Sakura's heart and brain have been at war before, but never like this.

Understandable, as she is facing the boy who always manages to pit those two against each other. This is never his intention, she believes, just an unfortunate consequence of a crush that refuses to be abolished. Even standing there, doing absolutely nothing of consequence, Uchiha Sasuke is managing to put her emotions in utter turmoil.

Obviously there is no question of accepting him back. She lost her grip on him once before, when he fled the hearts that reached out to him. She will not do it again, she silently promises, regardless of her inability to keep her grasp the last time. That was then, when she was younger, and this is now.

She is the first of Team 7 to speak.

"Sasuke, you...came back," she utters steadily, her words clinging to a whisper. "Does this mean we can...we can..."

Embarrassed heat rushes to her features as a thousand fantasies swarm into her brain and collide with each other. There's so much she wants right now, so much she wants eventually, from the person standing before her.

Sasuke's gaze, which has been wandering from person to person this entire time, focuses on the pink-tressed female for the first time. His eyes narrow as he regards her in the way one might regard a highly distressful type of insect. For a moment, it is 12-year-old Sakura and 12-year-old Sasuke eyeing each other, the former in a lovestruck daze while the latter laments the choice of teammates. When he speaks, there is an unpleasant frost huddling at the back of his words.

"Can _what_?" he demands in a rather aggressive tone. "Nothing has changed since the last few times we met. No matter how long I've been away, it remains the same. You're still annoying."

The word plunges directly through the female's heart akin to a spear. Except since when have wounds, mental or physical, dragged her soul down this much? She is more injured by that simple adjective than she was as a child when she, in her own hindsight, somewhat _deserved_ it. Now he is carelessly pulling out the same card, opening the same laceration again.

Kakashi's gaze drifts from Sakura's features, which have crumpled in despair, to the serene features of the raven-haired male. He notes that Naruto, who is apparently suffering from a case of astonishment, has neither spoken nor moved. However, the man himself is suffering from no such ailment. On the contrary, his mouth and body are in perfect working order as he strides forward, a pleasant smile on his features.

Sasuke watches his former sensei approach, vaguely wondering about the companionable smile. He would have expected a more serious expression from the man.

"Kakashi-sensei," he utters calmly. "I..."

In an instant, Kakashi's fist slams slams the remainder of that utterance back down Sasuke's throat. Stars explode before the latter's visage at the blow, the strengh of the impact driving crimson liquid from his nose. The pain of it is nearly driven sideways by the most immense sense of shock he has ever experienced in his entire life. And, bizarrely, through the entire thing, the smile remains on Kakashi's face.

It is over in less than a moment, but somehow the duration feels closer to several.

Stepping back from the bewildered male, Kakashi looks over his shoulder to see an equally boggled Sakura striding forward.

"You...," is all she manages to force from her lips.

His smile not wavering in the slightest, the man speaks in a flawlessly composed tone.

"You hate me now, right? I'll gladly take any punishment you give me. Unleash the full extent of your wrath on me if you want."

He adjoins, his tone shifting to something more gentle,

"But before you kill me, at least let me say that you're not annoying. And if you're going to beat the living shit out of me anyway, I don't see why I shouldn't give you _two_ reasons..."

He leans forward and, before she can predict what he's about to do, kisses her forehead. His lips linger teasingly for a few more seconds than required, the powerful scent of her strawberry shampoo nearly penetrating his mask.

"_Huh_?!" the female cries out, thoroughly dumbfounded yet again.

She touches her forehead, as if expecting her fingers to come upon a bruise or another specific mark. But it is only smooth, seemingly untouched skin, with a slight warmth to it but otherwise lacking any evidence of what just occurred. Sakura is unhappily aware of how exceedingly she is blushing at the moment.

Sasuke is beginning to slip from the daze that descended over him. A resentful hand goes immediately to his bleeding nose, halting the crimson stream in its tracks.

And then another fist slams the senses from his head yet again, a significantly larger amount of power and fury behind the blow.

"You forgot I wasn't a child, didn't you, you bastard?"

With this line hanging in the air, Sakura turns her attention to a somewhat smirking Kakashi. His grin dies entirely when, she imagines, the anticipated punishment returns to the front of his mind.

But all she gives him is a slap across the face.

"That's for kissing me out of nowhere! What were you even THINKING?!"

Rubbing his cheek, Kakashi utters in a pained tone,

"Just promise me you'll never fall for a guy like that ever again."

Sakura spares a glance for the raven-tressed male, who appears to be in immense pain over the attack. This is clearly not what he anticipated on his return, regardless of what had happened during his last encounters with those previously his comrades.

Her eyes brimming with sincerity, Sakura utters quietly,

"I promise."


End file.
